Minor League Baseball Players

[FatJack]

Pro Football Hall of Famer Yale Lary passed away earlier this morning at the age of 86. While Lary made his name with the pigskin, he was also a minor league baseball player between 1953 and 1957.

The baseball image below shows Lary with the Texas A&M Aggies, whom he led to the College World Series in 1951, setting a Southwest Conference record for doubles in the process. Although the image turns up in a Google search, the linked page comes up as a 404 error.

[pepsikula]

Looking for an images of Alvah Y. Kern, Samuel Aaron Reust and John A. Walters who all played for the 1900 Cleveland Lake Shores, among other teams...

[Cusick]

Pitcher David Klenda appeared on the N.Y. Mets' spring roster in 1977. He died recently (May 18) after battling cancer in Yarmouth, Maine.

The photo is from the website of the Portland (ME) Press-Herald.

Anyone have a photo of him in a Mets uniform?

[Cusick]

Second baseman Walter E. "Gene" Oden was a non-roster invitee to the spring camp of the 1956 Baltimore Orioles. He died recently (May 20) at his home in DeBerry, Texas. His obituary revealed a couple of items about his background which do not show up in baseball-reference.com. His date of birth was 1/5/1933 and his place of birth was Shreveport, Louisiana.

The photo shows him with the Augusta Tigers. It is from the Augusta (GA) Chronicle of July 13, 1958.

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by Cusick

Pitcher David Klenda appeared on the N.Y. Mets' spring roster in 1977. He died recently (May 18) after battling cancer in Yarmouth, Maine.

The photo is from the website of the Portland (ME) Press-Herald.

Anyone have a photo of him in a Mets uniform?

The only place Klenda turns up is the 1975 team photo in the yearbook. That's Klenda on the end of the back row (following Bernard and Myrick--Parker, Stone and the clubhouse attendant in front of them). I don't recall Klenda being in camp in '77--not saying he wasn't, though. Do you have a uni number for him from '77?

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by FatJack

The only place Klenda turns up is the 1975 team photo in the yearbook. That's Klenda on the end of the back row (following Bernard and Myrick--Parker, Stone and the clubhouse attendant in front of them). I don't recall Klenda being in camp in '77--not saying he wasn't, though. Do you have a uni number for him from '77?

According to the April, 1977 issue of Baseball Digest, Klenda was on the Mets' spring roster and wore uniform number 35.

[Penale52]

George Cleve with the 1895 Nashville Seraphs

[Penale52]

Henry Smith with the 1895 Nashville Seraphs

[Penale52]

Jack McCann with the 1895 Nashville Seraphs

[Penale52]

Ed Daniels with the 1895 Nashville Seraphs

[Rainmaker]

Love turning the minor leaguers into customs. These could all use a hand.



George Gerberman, Cubs 1962 (one MLB game)



Harvey Chaffin, Pirates 1964



Williams Burns, White Sox 1966



John Burrows, Orioles 1966



Morris Cigar, Angels 1961

[Cusick]

Outfielder James Sebastian "Jim" Basso had a seventeen year minor league career, topped by landing on the St. Louis Cardinals spring roster in 1947. Don't know what the occasion was for his linking up with Ernest Hemingway, but thought this photo merited a post. It was displayed on the Pecan Park Eagle, a blog operated by SABR member Bill McCurdy. Bill is apparently a friend of Jim Basso, as the photo comes from Basso's personal collection.

P.S. From correspondence with Bill McCurdy, I learned that the occasion of the photo was Jim Basso's attending dinner, along with others, with Hemingway in Cuba in 1952.

P. P. S. After some research, it was learned that Basso was performing very well for the Marianao team of the Cuban Winter Leagues at the time of this photo. Bill McCurdy sent me a copy of the larger photo from which this pair was excerpted. On the other side of Hemingway was Frank Carswell, who was Basso's teammate with Marianao. So it's likely that Hemingway had invited a selected group of Marianao players over to his home in Cuba for dinner.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=basso-001jam

[Cusick]

Color correction, as requested. Gerberman was a major leaguer (Cubs 1962).

[Cusick]

Color correction, as requested. Chaffin was a non-roster invitee with the 1964 Pirates.

[Cusick]

Color correction, as requested. Burns, a catcher, was a non-roster invitee with the White Sox in 1964.

[Cusick]

Color correction, as requested. Burrows, a catcher, was a non-roster invitee with the Orioles in 1966 and 1969. He was on the Tigers' spring roster in 1964.

[Cusick]

Color correction, as requested. Cigar, a pitcher, was a non-roster invitee with the Angels in 1961.

[FatJack]

Jessie Lee Huggins passed away on May 31. Jessie was a southpaw best remembered in baseball circles as a minor leaguer in the Giants and Cardinals systems. In between, though, he was with the Brewers organization in 1970 and, thus, in baseball image circles, he's probably best remembered as a mystery man escaping from the Topps Vault in the uniform of the Seattle Pilots. He also briefly passed through the New York Mets system. For years, he was misidentified as "Jesse Higgins", thanks to a typo, and he's still listed on Baseball-Reference as "Jesse" Huggins, though his obit gives his name as "Jessie".

Huggins looked like he could be something special, even tossing a no-hitter for Decatur in 1966. But he was called up to the military for '67 and '68 and, when he came back--still just 24--baseball started thinking of Jesse as too old to be a legitimate prospect. In 5 minor league seasons between 1965 and 1971, Jesse was 34 - 21, with a 3.05 ERA and 518 strikeouts in 573 innings. In 1972, Jesse pitched in the Mexican League, posting a record of 14 - 6 with an ERA of 1.87 (second in the league). After a year out of baseball, he briefly attempted a comeback in 1974, but that didn't last long. In 2 games for Tampico, Jesse was 0 - 1 with a 7.36 ERA.

Jesse's two Pilots images in the Vault are from the BF folder and you've probably seen those. I Haven't seen any Vault images of Jesse with San Francisco or St. Louis. But attached is a Giants image you may not have seen from an ongoing eBay offering. I tried to make the eyes visible but you may prefer the un-retouched version. So I'll include the before and after.

[jwisenberg]

Looking for photos of George "Woody" Woodson. Especially looking for a pic of him as an Indian.

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by jwisenberg

Looking for photos of George "Woody" Woodson. Especially looking for a pic of him as an Indian.

This photo is from the Cleveland Plain Dealer of April 1, 1969, as it announces the trade of Woodson to the Washington Senators for Cap Peterson.

Woodson also appears on dual rookie card 1969 Topps #244, purportedly as an Indian, but since the photo pictures him as capless, one really can't tell what uniform he's in.